


What am I to you?

by Humble_Bee



Category: Borderlands (Video Games), Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Boss/Employee Relationship, CEO Rhys, Developing Relationship, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Forced Kiss, Masturbation, My First AO3 Post, Please believe me, Porn With Plot, Porn in Later Chapters, Post-Canon, it gets dirtier I swear, what else?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-11-23 09:22:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11399676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humble_Bee/pseuds/Humble_Bee
Summary: After the Vault, Rhys and Fiona part to go on different journeys. One day, she comes back to Pandora without much of a success in Vault hunting. Rhys offers her a position at his company. Will she take it? And if she actually did, what would change in the nature of their relationship?





	1. We meet again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Background music: Do I wanna know - Arctic Monkeys

\- Hello, Rhys!  
\- Oh, hi Sasha! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?  
\- Yeah… A while… exactly 5 months, Rhys. - Sasha raised her eyebrow through the eco-com.

Ever since the vault, Fiona has been traveling through multiple planets and lands to follow leads to the next vault. It’s easy to imagine this line of work is thrillingly exciting but exhausting and restless at the same time, even for a Pandoran like Fiona. About Rhys, he went back to rebuilding Atlas to be the medium-sized “empire” – as he likes to call it – like it used to be with the help of Vaughn – now, is chief accountant of the company. Sasha and Vaughn still frequently meet up at The Purple Skag – the bar where she works as a bartender, sometimes dealers (for illegal trade, of course). But Rhys, he has been working his ass off, separating himself from most people, even Vaughn. Sometimes, during Vaughn’s rambling session with Sasha behind a glass of tropical cocktail with the little red umbrella, the topic of Rhys and Fiona comes up, they wonder if the two part on good terms, or that being the reason why Rhys acts this way.

\- Woah! I can’t recall it’s that long. Anyway, is there any particular reason why you call? Because I really have to sort out this enormous pile of files before the meeting tomorrow and Vaughn is nowhere to be found. – Rhys with an anxious voice.  
\- Well, actually, I just want to check up on your corporation ass, and casually mention that Fiona might return to Pandora tomorrow and she’ll be at the bar in the afternoon if you want to…  
\- Fiona?! – Rhys interrupts. – I… uh, I have a very important meeting tomorrow so… no promise here Sash.  
\- Fine… Corporate man got to do his corporate stuffs. Understood.

Right before she can hang up, Rhys lets out a loud voice.

\- Wait! How is she?  
\- Why don’t you ask her yourself! – Sasha grunts then hangs up.

She has all of the reasons in the world to be mad at him right now, in fact, everyone can actually claim their right to be mad at him for being such a neglectful friend for such a long time. Sure, work can always be used as an excuse but even he doesn’t agree with himself to some extents. Rhys comes back to his enormous pile of files.

Vaughn’s standing at the opened door way of Rhys’ office, has to knock twice to get his attention.  
\- Herrrrhemm… - Vaughn making a noise.  
\- Vaughn, here you are! Where are you all freaking afternoon? I’ve got this finance files pulled out of the archive and asked Accounting to take a look days ago, and still no report yet. Am I supposed to do it by myself now? – Rhys shouts at his confused friend.  
\- Err… The report is on your desk since Tuesday, Rhys. – Vaughn’s a bit stunned and terrified to be honest.  
\- WHAT?! – Rhys swipes through his table to find the finance report lying there all along.

He grabs the report and covers the back of his head as he collapses on the table. The scene looks like a man got defeated by his absent mind, blaming himself and regretting the whole afternoon spent in vain. The last sun ray just went down over the far mountain, leaving the sky with this pinkish shade visible from the big glass window in Rhys’ office. The two stay silent for a good minute, then Rhys finally breaks it.

\- I’m sorry Vaughn. I haven’t been myself lately…  
\- It’s okay, but man… this ain’t good for the long term, you know. Ever since Gortys and LB went on their long-due holiday, everything went out of control; do you need an intern to sort things out temporarily? Because I can get one on the snap of my fingers…  
\- Nah, thanks. I don’t want stranger coming in here and start asking questions. – Imagine himself being all friendly and explain-y to an intern gives Rhys a shiver.  
\- Did you hear from Sasha? – Vaughn tipping his toes around the dangerous water.  
\- Uhh… Yes, I did.  
\- So? Do you plan to show up at all?  
\- I don’t know, with this schedule… - Rhys avoiding.  
\- Cmon, Rhys! What was that about? You know I can reschedule the meeting to anytime suits you, right? To this point, I gotto ask. What’s going on between you and Fiona? And don’t you lie to me, Rhys!

Rhys sighs knowing that he can’t dodge the question this time.

\- Fine, If you must know… After Fiona and I enter the vault, she asked me if I want to continue go vault hunting with her as partner. I did consider it but I think it might be best if everyone just goes back to their natural habitat, right? You and I go back to corporate life, she can go hovering on any planet she wants, chasing something that she probably never get her hands on in this life time ever again… I might have said something about her being unrealistic and think too much of herself…  
\- Oh my god, Rhys… – Vaughn face-palmed himself reliving Rhys’ last subtle encounter with the lady.  
\- I know, I know…  
\- That’s how you treat the girl you like? Imagine how you would…  
\- Hold that! What are you talking about? – Rhys jumps as a cat hearing a doorbell.  
\- Cmon, Rhys, I spent years in college with you. I didn’t learn much about hacking but I definitely know if you like a girl by the way you look at her, Rhys.

Rhys lets out a longer sigh.

\- Now it’s gonna be a hell of awkwardness between us when we meet again…  
\- That’s what YOU think, Rhys. She might not even remember. – Vaughn shrugs

The next day, at 12:01 pm, the very definition of “afternoon”, Sasha hears some quarrels out the door. She steps outside to find Rhys having some trouble with Tector – the bouncer. Sasha crosses her arms and smirks at the scene.

\- Well well well, who do we have here?  
\- Heheyyyyy…. Sasha! My favourite bartender of all time! – Rhys awkwardly laughs – Would you mind explaining to this gentleman right here that I am a respectable but badass CEO of a huge corporation, and that I don’t need to be on any list to get in?  
\- It depends, is the “respectable but badass CEO” holding a “very important meeting” here? Cuz I don’t remember hosting one. – Sasha being sarcastic.

Rhys brushes through his way-to-much-waxed hair and smile uncomfortably.

\- Ehehe… The meeting was finished early, and I happened to be in the neighborhood so I thought… why don’t I come over to check out my good friend Sash, seeing what she’s up to these days? – Rhys gestures at the bartender, trying to be funny.  
\- Alright, come in. – Sasha sighs and tilts her head towards the inside – And by the way, you really should get better at lying. I just got off the phone with Vaughn and he said you stomped out of the conference room the minute the meeting started, leaving him to deal with your guesses.  
\- Is that so? – Rhys embarrasses – Well, technically, that’s a finance meeting; I don’t even have to be there in the first place. But I would appreciate it if you won’t mention this to anyone else, especially…  
\- My sister? – Sasha smirks.  
\- …Right, your sister.  
\- Can’t promise, Rhys. She’s family. So what make you change your mind?

Rhys keeps silent for a moment.

\- How about we sticking with “being in the neighborhood” thing. – He adds.

Rhys doesn’t sit at the bar. He figures too much encounter with Sasha will not be good for his image. Damn! The woman is sharp. Plus, he kinda hopes to catch Fiona alone some times, to resolve whatever it is that make him hesitates to come here in the first place. He orders a drink and watches a played-back race on TV: The Hyperion Race of Death. The sponsorship has been transferred to Maliwan, now that Handsome Jack is dead, soon it will soon be called: The Maliwan Race of Fire.

The number of drinks on Rhys’ table increases by hours, now, it is five already. He puts his fist up against the face. Everything starts to look blurry. He believes he was blackened out for a while until he hears a warm, familiar voice.

\- You’re alright there, Hyperion?

Rhys is a bit startled, opening his eyes just to find Fiona smiling at him from across the table. She looks neat as always, hair’s a bit longer under the ivory hat. The same pale green eyes looking at him, sparkling like crystals. When she smiles, her lips reveal tiny cracks from long journey dehydration, even though she has covered carefully with crimson lipstick.

\- Oh, hi! – He’s yawning on the outside but on the inside, his heart leaps.

Fiona glances at all the cups on his side of the table.

\- Look like somebody has been partying hard on his own, huh?  
\- Oh, no no, they’ve been here before I arrive. This one… - point to the nearest glass – This one is mine. Have you met Sasha yet?  
\- Of course I have. She’s the one pointing out it’s you sitting in this booth. Otherwise, I figure you’re just some loser drinking alone, crying for attention.  
\- Woah… nice to meet you too, Fiona.

She hardly changes a bit. Rhys misses her harsh but partly true jokes.

\- So… How’s life treating you, Mr. Big shot president? I heard you’ve been super-duper busy.  
\- Well, not wrong. In fact, corporate management is a much more complicated term, but, since you, Pandorans, lack of basic understanding about any of those arts, I’m gonna dumb it down by saying, yes, I have been busy as a bee . How about you? Are you closer to any vault yet?  
\- It’s a tricky business, alright? – Her expression went South all of the sudden, as if he has offended her in some ways, which he definitely did.

Sasha swoops in with two drinks in hands and sits down. Rhys goes ahead of himself and reach out a hand.

\- Ah ahh, none for you. – She warns him lurking at all the glasses.

Fiona frowns at Rhys, addressing his lie about the number of drinks he had. Rhys shrugs in guilty.

\- So… sis, tell us all about your lil adventure!

Fiona goes on and passionately narrates some of her most memorable experiences in her days of vault hunting in the last five months. At some points, she even reenacts the fight. Looking at her like that fills him with childlike happiness, maybe a little jealousy of how different their lives have been after the vault. He knows his decision is sensible, still sometimes he wonders what it would be like if he chose to go with her.

Sensing a little distraction from Rhys, Fiona stops.

\- Phewww… Enough about me, how are things at home?  
\- Rhys seems to be plotting something very big. What is it that you make? I’m sure Vaughn spilled it out once when he was drunk. Ah! A new shield prototype. – Sasha evilly smirks.  
\- Urggg, Vaughn! Right… – He comes back to reality from a good moment wandering in train of thoughts – We are building a new energy shield prototype. To be honest, we’re having a hard time, Vaugh’s going through old accounting reports to find a way to save some money to fund the new project. All that and with Gortys and LB off to their holiday, I’ve got no time to even… have lunch some days. – Rhys casually drinks up the last drops in his glass.

After hearing what Rhys considers to be normal corporate life, the girls are quite surprised that their flimsy-noodle friend can handle all that without a whinny word of complain. Their slightly hostile attitude turns into sincere concern.

\- Hey Rhys, I think… maybe Fiona can help you out for a while. Right Fi? In term of admin stuff, like a secretary? – Sasha boldly suggests.  
\- What? Me? Working as a servant? For him, no less? – Fiona is shocked by the core.  
\- Not a servant, a secretary, Fi. It’s a real job, and pretty high up on the corporate ladder too. Right, Rhys?  
\- You gotto be kidding me! I will never working for any soul-sucking corporate, even his.  
\- Look sis, you always say that you want to do something for this planet right? Pandora, our home. How are you gonna do that if you’re just some self-appointed vault hunters, fleeing from one planet to another? It’s sad but true, Fi, one has to actually gain some power before one can make a change around here. And what are better ways to do that than exploiting our friend’s money and loyalty? – Points to Rhys.

He is still pretty stunned by the whole idea.

\- Plus, you’re taking a break from the vault hunting business right? I can’t sit around all day fetching things for you, Fi. Might as well make some dough on your free time. I heard Atlas gym got the biggest pool of all. – Sasha grins.  
\- … She’s right about the pool though. – Rhys squints his eyes preparing to be punched in the neck once again by Fiona.  
\- Or you can always think of it as helping out a friend in need.

After saying that, Sasha’s off to do her work. It’s a pretty crowded night for Purple Skag. The two got left alone. Fiona doesn’t seem to be triggered by the suggestion now as much as three drinks ago. When they finally stand up and head to the door, it’s almost mid-night.

\- Where are you staying tonight? – Rhys asks while saying goodbye to Fiona outside.  
\- I’ll be back at Felix’s place with Sasha and August for a few nights, then maybe find some other places, cus I don’t want to crowd them.  
\- You know… Sasha’s idea today is not so bad... Hear me out, I can really use some helps right now, and it’s a full paid accommodation employment package. So… you don’t have to worry about where to stay, what to eat before you decide to go on your adventure again.  
\- I’ll think about it, Rhys. – She smiles.

This is one of rare times that she doesn’t call him names implying that he’s the worthless, emotion-impaired corporate scumbag. Then suddenly, he feels her breath close to his face, reeks with alcohol smells, just like his. But he doesn’t mind. She leans in, hands on his shoulder and put a peck on his cheek. She has to be on her toes a little, because Rhys is taller, her breasts press against his chest. It was a little surprised, his body is too drunk to move but his mind is taking half a step back. Rhys feels his heart beats like one the most bigass Bosanova’s speakers. For a moment, his cheeks manage to get even hotter on top of all that alcohol. He thinks that maybe it is something, before he sees her doing the same for Sasha and August. Errr, maybe not so much.

He gets in the car, puts it in auto-pilot mode and lounges back on his chair thinking about how the evening went, and what prospect it might bring to his boring, pencil-pushing office life.


	2. The mistake

Rhys lifts his upper-body from the bed sheet, slowly opens his eyes. He’s in his apartment, can’t remember how long he had been sleeping, probably the whole weekend. He had never been drinking so much in his life. It’s a good thing he came home in one piece. Regardless if it’s dark or light outside, the apartment has always been kept inside the closed drapes. Just a little light shimmers through the gaps between the cloths. Rhys rubs his eyes, then quickly falls on his back again with the arms stretched wide open. A face comes across his mind, it’s Fiona’s. He remembers how beaming she looked when she told the stories of her adventure. In a deep deep place in his heart lies this desire of keeping her close, almost like possessing her for his own, but he also knows that would be selfish, depriving her of her true happiness.

He can finally pull himself up and get into the dressing room. Rhys swipes through the clothing catalogue that he owns, then chooses a shirt whose color won’t burn his hangover eyes to coal. Dragging himself through his office lobby with a black coffee in hand, he sees Vaughn just conversing with someone then closing the office’s door.

\- Who were you just talking to? – Rhys pulls down the sunglasses to his lower nose bridge.  
\- You cannot believe who’s paying you a visit!

Rhys cannot tell if Vaughn is actually excited or just trying to warn him about some early Monday troubles. He quickly heads to the door and slams it open.

\- Fiona? – His sunglasses are one inch from falling off the face.

It’s Fiona, lounging in his office, looking at trophies and artifacts. She’s in the former Hyperion uniform, acquired in the last mission to Helios, with the logo ripped off of course, still looks pretty corporate-y.

\- You said you could use some helps, so… here I am! Although, why don’t you tell me that Atlas is sloppy? I feel extremely overdressed. – She smirks.

Rhys takes a moment to look down his outfit. He’s wearing a casual black shirt with a couple of buttons undone, showing his blue tattoo down the chest area. The dark color makes him look even slimmer. The pants are also black and a bit dusty, probably the same pair he wore the last time they met. He quickly realizes how unprepared he was, not knowing he was gonna meet “the girl he likes” today. He puts down the coffee at once, then starts tucking the shirt, fastening the buttons, stroking his hair. He walks towards the dresser, pulls out the top drawer and puts on a pair of vibrant orange rhinestones cufflinks. All of these are done in one minute.

\- Errhehe, Cmon… you can’t possibly believe that’s how Atlas’s President cum CEO would look like, can you?

She doesn’t say anything, just look at him and pretends to be impressed.

\- But enough of that, so you decided to work for me? Oh! This is grea…  
\- Ah-ah! I am NOT working for you, Rhys. – She sasses her fingers. – This is me, generously helping out a friend. I don’t need your payment… (with a softer voice) but I do actually need a place to crash…  
\- Fine, but, no sass-back! And no punching in the neck! – Rhys can’t hide his grin near her. It’s still a bit confusing about the whole arrangement, but he’s just happy she’s here. – So, technically, you’re my assistant. You’ve got a desk right outside my office… but umm, you’re welcome to come in anytime you want… not that I have this crazy restriction rule about boss and employee thing, cmon slavery is way passed now… wow, this came across wrong. Let’s start over…  
\- Rhys… let me save you from this embarrassment. I’ll ask Vaughn all about that later. Just tell me which kind of coffee you like, alright? With salt or a friendly sneeze, or both? – She mischievously chuckles and slowly closes the door behind when she leaves.

Rhys can’t believe this! Fiona is just one door away, 8 hours a day. Not just that, she’s gonna stay IN the facility. He’s pinching himself, thinking: GOD! This kind of luck does not usually work out for him. If the multiple universes theory was true, another version of him might sit in the corner of a church watching her marrying some bloody vault hunter by now. But this is not that universe, he might actually got a chance here.

Rhys summons all the strength he has to work through the morning without lurking at her or buzzing the button. When he steps out of the office at lunch time, Fiona is not there. He walks to the cafeteria and sits down next to Vaughn at their favorite table, far in the corner that has the best view.

\- How’s the new assistant? Distracting much? – Vaughn’s smirk is full of implication, nudging Rhys’ ribs.  
\- …Err, what? Please… I figure she might need some times to get used to corporate environment, so I don’t bother her. And by the way, even though I have this sorta “indefinable” feeling towards her, it won’t stand in the way. Strictly professional here, Vaughn, and I expect you not to meddling with the whole situation. You got it?  
\- Whatever you say, Rhys. – Vaughn shrugs.  
\- Good, and do you see her anywhere cus I don’t…

Vaughn points his finger at the water cooler next to the vending machine. Rhys’ eyes follow, catching Fiona talking to a much more muscular dude than him, probably from HR. She’s doing the thing with her hair, which Rhys clearly remembers how she used to do it to charm guys. He feels uncomfortable.

\- Already popular with the dudes. – Vaughn comments and intents to challenge Rhys a bit.

Rhys doesn’t say anything just finishing his lunch. After the lunch break, Rhys goes back to the office, comes across Fiona sitting in her desk with both legs on the table, chewing gum. He almost passes her with a friendly smile like any other boss does in the first day of their assistant. But something stops him. He turns around and leans in her table.

\- So… How’s the first day so far? Everybody’s good to you? If anyone troubles you, you come straight to me… or Vaughn, doesn’t matter who it is… We’ll sort it out.  
\- …Okay… - She raises her eyebrow.  
\- Uhm… there’s one more thing, Fiona. I know that we’re friends, err, good friends, and we have this deal of helping each other out. But most people here don’t know that. And it’s gonna get real complicated if they think you are somewhat more privileged than the rest. So, it would be best if you can… put on a little act, you know...

Suddenly the phone rings, both are looking at it. Fiona quickly picks it up.

\- Hello, Atlas’s CEO’s office, how can I help?... Yes, have you placed your prior appointment?... Actually, Mr. CEO is not available right now. But I can take a message… Yes, I make sure he’d receive it. Thank you.  
\- Wow, Fiona. You sound just like those soulless answering machines. Well done!  
\- Hah! I can’t believe you have to have this talk with me. Ex-con artist, remember?  
\- Right…! – Rhys points both his index fingers at her then about to walk away.  
\- Hey! So… what is my fist mission? Still waiting for your order… Mr. CEO. – She smirks, crossing her arms.  
\- Err… I currently don’t have any task for you yet. But, are you serious? You actually want to do something? – Rhys doubts.  
\- Of course! …How about, we go get you some actual CEO’s outfits? Sound fun?  
\- Humm… I don’t know, I’ll think about it. Keep up the good work, Fi.

Bummer. He gets into his office, leaving Fiona behind being a little disappointed. Why is talking to her always make him feel so stressed and indecisive?! She calls him “Mr. CEO” today, making him feel kinda important although he knows that 90% of that was sarcasm. Rhys sits still for like 5 minutes, looking at the blueprint of the new shield prototype on the screen, before the springs up from his chair, then out of the door, grabbing Fiona’s wrist, dragging her with him in the speed of light.

\- Clear my afternoon, we’re going shopping. – with all his seriousness.

Fiona’s eyes wide opened then she makes some calls to cancel Rhys’ meetings. His grip is firm but not so tight to hurt her. He’s facing straight ahead, not looking back. Some people notice, and they pause for a moment to observe before they can fabricate any scandalous gossip about the new girl later today.

When they get to the main entrance, there’s already a car waiting outside. Rhys signals the chauffeur to leave the car, he’s driving today. Being as gallant as he has never been to anyone in his life, Rhys gets to the other side of the car and opens the door for Fiona before he gets in the driver seat and waits there.

She’s astonished by his rapid change of decisions, and to be honest, by his gentleman-like gesture a little bit.

\- Where are we going? Aren’t we just gonna get to some clothes vending machine to choose from the catalogue?  
\- Pfff… don’t be so… Pandoran, of course, we can always do that, but then, you don’t get to experience the elite package and customization service of the most high-end shopping center. – He half-smiles at her, and his face kinda says: just wait and see.  
\- Urggg, exactly what I hate, corporate’s pretentious, made-up values.  
\- And look at you! First day and already spending company’s money like a pro. – Rhys laughs.

They finally arrive at this big building, made of glass and steel. The floor is polished to the point that ladies have to be careful if they don’t want people to see up their skirts. Everything is spotless. Very few customers in a Monday afternoon, Fiona feels a cold breeze on the back of her head.

\- What is this place? The most evil… abundant… overkill of a shop? I can’t believe this place exists on the same planet where I grew up. Corporate scumbags!  
\- Hey… easy… now that you’re walking side to side with the owner, might as well smooth off the attitude, right?  
\- WHAT?!

She notices now that all the employees are bowing to him gently. They exchange a look. Fiona’s is like: are you kidding me? Then Rhys’ is like: I know right?

\- This place is a branch of our amour-making business. One day Vaughn just came up with the idea, why don’t we utilize our labour and machineries to create a fashion line, sounds very macro but I know he just want to have free gym clothes. – Rhys shrugs.  
\- You can stop right there, before I become the first secretary to stab her boss in the company’s facility on the first day.

Fiona’s not gonna lie. She is actually impressed this time. She always thought that Rhys’ managing a mediocre company, but not a multi-industries corporation like this. Look at this building, it’s… cold but feel kinda nice and she starts to have this secondary powerful feeling. While she’s wandering around, gazing on many fascinating items in the store, Rhys was approached by the head manager.

\- Hello, Mr. President. It’s a pleasure having you here. Are you here for business or personal interest?

The question seems very casual but strikes Rhys quite hard, is he here because he wants new business outfits or just to please Fiona?

\- Err… make it both. – Rhys grins.  
\- Very good, sir. Would you require a personal shopper this time?  
\- Oh, no. You see that lady over there? – pointing at Fiona – I’m with her, so whatever she has her eyes on, put it in the list.  
\- Definitely, sir.

\- Hey! Fi! Are you gonna do your job or what? – Rhys shouts across the floor.

Fiona spent the whole afternoon picking items, giving thumb-ups or thumb-downs to Atlas’ CEO. She really enjoys spending time with her “boss”. They finish the day with nearly a hundred item cards.

When they reach the headquarter, Rhys decides to walk Fiona to her apartment.

\- You’ve done well today, assistant. – Rhys teases.  
\- Do you yet realize that I’ve just done some pretty serious damage to the company’s financial state? – Fiona’s being mischievous.  
\- Oh, you think this much can have a tini tiny effect to the company’s assets? How cute! – Rhys chuckles. – Is this you?! – He points at the door with his thumb.  
\- Yeah, this is me. Vaughn is so nice switching his apartment with me. He said something about this is actually secretary’s appointed apartment. He’s just here for the better view, and now he prefers to be closer to the gym.

That bastard! What is he trying to do? This apartment is exactly opposite to Rhys’, if she looks out the window, she can see everything going on in his place, and vice versa.

\- Right… - Rhys knits his brows, pinching his nose bridge. – Very nice of Vaughn, I’ll remember to “reward” him for this. Anyway…

Rhys takes out a card from his pocket and almost throws at Fiona.

\- I notice your eyes are pretty set on this item… so here, have it... Maybe you won’t get to wear this to work, but you can wear it when there’re only two of us. – Rhys murmurs.

Fiona catches the card from him.

\- Why being nice all of the sudden. Oh my god, you’re gonna mill me to my bones tomorrow aren’t you?  
\- Hey! Don’t make me regret being nice to you, Fi. Just try it on and send me a picture, will you? Gosh!

Rhys goes back to his apartment, throwing himself on the bed. He covers the face with his hands. It’s now 10 pm. What a day! He feels so full that he can barely eat. Maybe it’s… love, or high chance it’s the gas from the macaroni he had for lunch. He quickly slips into his shorts and climb to bed.

He slept for an hour or two before being wakened up by a ring. He’s almost blinded by the light of his palm hologram before he can switch the light on and move the call to the screen on the wall.

\- Do you know what time is it?… - with a cranky voice, rubbing his eyes.  
\- WHAT IS THIS, RHYS? You sick bastard! What do you mean when you said I can wear this when there’re only two of us? YOU PSHYCO PERVERT! – Fiona unleashes her wrath at the other end.  
\- Whaa…? – Rhys’ mind goes blank.  
\- Ohhhh you thought getting me to work for you means that you own me and that you can do whatever you want with me, or my body? What is wrong you? I’m leaving first thing in the morning!

What the hell on earth can cause that? Rhys’ eyes pop opened, almost drop out of his skull when he sees Fiona doing all the hand gestures in a black silk two-pieces lingerie with tiny string traps and a delicate amber jewelry body chain connecting her neck to the waist and lower back.

\- Wait! What? That’s what in the card? – Rhys jumps in terror – No! No! No! No! No! Fi, no, that’s NOT what I got you! They must have mixed up the item ID. I got you a leather utility belt, for your guns and tools and stuff. Not that!

The screen froze, right at the moment Fiona breasts are so close to the camera. This is the worst.

\- Fi? Are you there? I swear to God that I have no idea. In fact, you don’t have to worry about me… I… uh… I just see you as a friend, nothing more.

Saying that, Rhys starts to feel this singularity forming in his chest, soon to consume his physical body, all his mistakes in the past rushes back like a montage torturing him.

Then she finally says.

\- Is it true? What you said. You don’t know anything about this?  
\- No, I really don’t. You think that with my poor taste in fashion I can choose such elegant underwear? …not that I find you… it… sexy… I mean attractive generally… on anyone. Oh God! I’m making this worse…

He swears he hears a cough very much like a chuckle on the other side.

\- Okay Rhys… Sorry for overreacting.  
\- No no, I’m sorry, Fiona. I’ll deal with it, first thing in the morning. Hell! I fire the manager if you want.  
\- What?! No! Stop acting like a tyrant. And this is procurement, and it’s under my department now, so… I’ll deal with it. In fact, it does look good, I wonder who designs these? – She laughs.

Thank God, the woman has the mood-swing of an amnesia grandma.

\- Er… whatever you’d like to do, Fi. Again, I’m sorry.  
\- You can go back to sleep now. Goodnight. – Fiona hangs up.

How can he go back to sleep? At least with that frozen image of her still lingers on the wall. Her breasts are very visible through the thin silk layer. They’re so full and round. With the help of gravity, those two hang in natural shape under her well-defined collar bone. Rhys suddenly imagines what it’s like to bury his face in those puppies. He cannot believe he get turned on so much just by seeing her bosoms in a bra, maybe a little more because she was angry (?). He feels this warm excitement spreading to his groin. It’s been a little too long for a grown man like Rhys to get down with anyone, ever since he left Helios. Rhys lets out a deep gasp and tilts his head back to the soft headboard. His flesh hand reaches down the boner and start stroking his growing, hard cock. Precum is dripping down from the slit, forming a pool of lust on his bed sheet. “Enhance!” – He says quietly, while still wanking himself off - Now, even her hard nipples are shown in details, she must have been quite emotional at the time. He speeds up, imaging Fiona kneading herself in front of him, he grunts a loud noise of release then finishing on to the sheet. This leaves a total mess, he has to crumble it into a ball and throw it on the floor. He’s now too hot to use one anyway. It’s unexplainable that this is the lowest, at the same time, the highest moment of his day. Can he suppress this feeling to honor what he said about being just friends? Or will he fuck it all for Fiona might be in this chapter of his life just for a little longer.


	3. Predator

After the incident, the two has excessively used humour as a shield to protect them from the awkwardness. To hell with energy shield, just teach people some jokes, and they are ready for any kind of enemies coming at them.

\- How’s that report going, Fi? Can you for once do the thing that I said without me reminding you every second?  
\- Urgg, excuse me, don’t you see how piled-up my desk already is? What more do you expect? How about… let me slip in my black lingerie and present it to you while you sit back and sipping champagne?! Asshole!

Another example of this shift in communication style, Rhys is mostly at the roasted end:

\- Can you book a table for two at Moxxi’s at 8:00? I have to see this partner.  
\- Fine. Wait! Do you want me to send her a set of lingerie as the meeting present?

He swears to God, one of these days he’ll be so fed up with this on-going joke and actually smacks her in the ass for sassing back. 

As for Fiona, she secretly keeps the sexy underwear set that Rhys accidentally bought with the company’s money. She thought it would make him look like a fool when the audit season comes. And they actually feel kind of nice on her skin after a shower. To this day, she still thinks of what to say to Rhys if he ever caught her wearing them again. 

\- Finished? You want to go to lunch? – Rhys closes his office door behind; eyes are still sealed on the hologram on his palm.

It’s a rare occasion that Rhys finished the job before Fiona. He has been handed over a lot of tasks for her. No wonder she’s been quite grumpy lately. She puts things away on her messy desk and follows Rhys.

\- Ohhh my boss is so nice to me today. I wonder if there’s another set of lingerie on the way. – Fiona being sarcastic.  
\- OKAY! That’s it!... – Rhys suddenly turns and pushes her violently onto the wall behind. His robotic arm punches just a millimeter from her ear, caging her in, he leans in close, giving her the fiery eyes. – Look, Fiona, it was a one-time mistake, okay? Can we just leave it at that? I shouldn’t have been nice to you like… ever. You always end up abuse my kindness to humiliate me. And should I remind you that I know you’re still keeping it. If you hate it so much, why don’t you return it when you have the chance? 

A cat seems to got her tongue. She looks terribly terrified.

\- How… How do you know I still have it?  
\- Cmonnn, I can see you walking around in your apartment wearing nothing but those. – Rhys throws his hands in the air, releases her from his lock then start walking.  
\- WHAT? You’re stalking me now? Sicko!  
\- Hey! If you don’t want people to see, there’s a thing called curtain, it’s the big cloth hang on the side of the window, use it! Jesus!

Fiona’s face goes full red, steam can come out of her ears. How long has he been observing without saying a word? This is outrageous! She can totally start another fight with him right now, but her ground is not so solid this time. In fact, thinking about all the dancing, lip-syncing, kungfu practicing sessions she did when she thought no one watching makes her want to dig a hole in the ground and just lie down there forever. She silently follows him to the cafeteria without muttering another syllable. 

The two spots Vaughn sitting in their favorite table, they approach and sit down. Vaughn seems to be preoccupied.

\- Uhhh Rhys, I just get the month’s internal invoices, and there’re some pretty weird transactions from your card.  
\- Uh huh? – Rhys swallows but still plays it cool.  
\- Look at this! Hah! A set of black, silk women night lingerie with body jewelry, limited edition! Wow, that’s a lot of money.  
\- Really? How much? – Fiona recklessly supplies. 

Rhys glares at her, thinking of a way to cover this up.

\- Ermmm, I needed a Mother’s day gift. – Rhys immediately regrets his choice of words.  
\- Really? Wow, I didn’t know you and your mother were that cool. Maybe I should go visit her sometimes…  
\- Over my dead body, Vaughn. 

Fiona tries her best to cover her grinning face, but somehow she still manages to let out a throaty snort. Rhys has to kick her under the table to keep her silent.

After today, things between Rhys and Fiona become less awkward (thank God!). She can get into his office and watch him work again, without this impulsive need of bringing up the underwear incident. Now, they can tease each other about a whole lot of other topics. 

Recently, Fiona starts to notice Rhys puts on a little weight. Not as much as getting fat, but he looks puffier as opposed to the skinny dude in that black shirt a month ago; maybe because he has lunch almost every day now, with her, and he doesn’t stay up as late. Yes, she knows about his sleeping schedule by the reflecting light from his bedroom. If one day, she sees him stay up pass midnight working, she would put on a little more effort the next day just to make sure he doesn’t have to bring home so much work. Sometimes it helps, sometime it doesn’t. But, at the end of the day, she has this warm feeling of having someone to care for, knowing all about a person to the details of their daily routine, the feeling of accomplishment when she actually can help. 

It’s been a month since the two of them were ironically forced to work with each other. Being close to him helps her understand more about his job, his ambition and she has to admit that she’s gaining respect to him day by day. But she swears to herself that he will never hear about this directly from her mouth. Frankly, she still cannot classify her feelings for him, it’s still very complicated. However, there’s one thing for sure that compare to those days roaming on the road passing deserts, she quite enjoys his company. It definitely adds more spices to her adventurous yet hollow life. 

She walks in Rhys’ office, he and Vaughn are talking inaudibly about some deals with Anshin, an about-to-out-of-business company. They look very serious, so she waits until Vaughn be gone to ask Rhys. 

\- Wow, you guys look dead serious. Thinking of the new strip club to visit?  
\- Haha, very mature. – Rhys being unamused.  
\- So…? What’s it then?  
\- Fine, I’ll tell you, but you can’t tell anyone, this deal is very important, and it’d be ruined if the information leaks out.  
\- My lips are sealed. – Fiona’s doing the gesture of zipping her mouth.  
\- Anshin’s president just passed away. The company now falls into his son’s hands. But he’s a drunken fool and deep in gambling debt. Such a waste! Anshin’s adaptive technology is one of the best defense strategies I’ve ever seen. We’re planning to approach him and offering him a sum to buy off the right to that technology once and for all, so we don’t have to pay royalty every year. If we can pull this off, we can further develop it; our engineers are researching how to fuel a shield with the damage that it takes, meaning, the use of eridium might become obsolete in shield manufacturing industry. 

That was a lot to process for Fiona, but she’s glad that he starts sharing business with her.

\- The guy will be here tomorrow. Vaughn has warned me about this fool having too much pride, so topics like the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about technology or business is off the table. And also something about his weird thumb, I don’t know. – Rhys shrugs.

The next day, when Rhys returns to his office, he sees the Anshin guy has already been waiting in the lobby.

\- What an asset you’ve got there! – The dude taps on Rhys’ back.  
\- Pardon?  
\- Your assistant, what a great rack!

Rhys instantly feels uncomfortable with this guy. Not even 15 minutes later, Fiona sees Rhys opening the door for this Anshin’s guy walking out. She stands up in hurry to greet him. 

\- Did we get it?  
\- No, we didn’t get it. – Rhys seems to be indifferent.  
\- What do you mean we didn’t get it? What is so difficult about talking a guy into receiving so much money, just avoiding his complete incompetency, and his weird thumb?  
\- Oh, if it is so easy to do business, why don’t you being the CEO instead? – Rhys grunts from the back of his throat.

Fiona stomps out of the room even though she knows pretty well that it’s not her business to be mad about. 

The next day, Vaughn calls while Rhys having morning coffee in the cafeteria.

\- Rhys! You can’t believe this! The Anshin’s guy agrees! He’s gonna transfer the right to the adaptive technology to us! Isn’t this great? We have to celebrate! – He shouts non-disruptively in excitement.

While Rhys passes Fiona in the hallway, he senses something fishy here.

\- Errr, Fi? You know, the Anshin’ deal actually went through, but I wonder…  
\- You’re welcome! Mr. CEO. – Fiona grins ear to ear.  
\- What exactly do you mean by that?  
\- Well, after witnessing you pathetically failed yesterday, I called the guy and asked him to go to dinner with me. We had some drinks, long story short, I charmed a guy into accepting the deal. – Fiona actually takes a bow at the end of her sentence.  
\- YOU WHAT?  
\- What? You guys can’t seem to do it, so… I take the matter into my own hands. Anyway, it’s done now. I’ll talk to Vaughn about where to go celebrate…  
\- No, no, no, no, Fiona! What did you do? Did you flirt with him? I can’t accept this! This is not how we do business. – Rhys rages furiously then slams the door behind him.

Fiona has expected very different reaction from Rhys. Things turn out the opposite of what she wants. There’s no praise for her for helping him achieving such big contract, instead he’s now indignant with her.

\- Hey, Rhys… - She enters after waiting for him to cool off. – Whatever it is that I’m doing wrong, I’m sorry. Still, I can’t understand why you’re not happy with this.  
\- Fi… In business, getting the deal done is not always everything. The way we’re doing it matters. I sabotaged this contract on purpose because he is an unrespectable scumbag of a man. While I already fixate on that, my assistant can’t just go and charm the guy back without telling me. Do you know how much damage it could cause to my reputation and the company? I’ll tell Vaughn to call of the deal right now! – Rhys seems to be very distressed.  
\- Wait! Wait, I understand, but you don’t have to call it off now that he already agrees to it. Sure, your business manner matters, but we’re on Pandora, remember? What’s more important than getting the deal done, Rhys???

Rhys slams both his fists on the table. The sound is so loud; it makes Fiona startled in terror. He springs up and sprints across the room towards her. She blenches like seeing a wild animal attacking, and irrationally raises the pistol inside her sleeve. Rhys activates his ECHO-eye and scans her movement. He’s one step ahead of her, rushing to grab her arm and pins it so tight up on the door behind them. She’s scared to death, trying to wiggle her wrist around. Rhys pushes her back on the door with all of his strength and anger. Suddenly, his other metal arm grips around her waist. He grinds his body up against hers, then he tilts his head down to force a bruising kiss on her lips. Fiona’s eyes are blinking relentlessly, she is trying so hard to comprehend the situation. But gosh! He’s so strong, she can’t seem to move a muscle. To this point, none of them can breathe, their bodies are stone stiffed. His kiss was so aggressive at first, her bottom lip seems to be bleeding, but then it slowly turns into some sort of passionate deep kiss. He lets go of her arm, moves his hand to the back of her neck and gently massaging it, at the same time trying to tilt her head back few degrees so he can sink deeper into her face. He can’t arch his back for so long, he lifts her up from the ground onto his feet. His metal arm accidentally slips under her shirt. Fiona feels this scorch from his soft lips, his tongue and saliva, then this chilling cold from his metal arm in her abdomen. She can move now, but something prevents her from get out of his arms, instead she stays, moaning to each time he pushes his tongue in further. He’s nibbling her bottom lip in paces, the taste of her blood fuels him with this burning lust. His animal instinct kicks in, he groans in satisfaction like a predator savouring its prey’s fresh meat. Rhys is panting heavily, his mind goes blank, completely free of any dilemmas between being friends or lovers. He’s just there, for the moment, kissing the woman he falls for since the very first day. 

\- Getting you… Fiona. Getting you is the most important thing to me…


	4. Being responsible

\- Rhys… kisses me…  
\- … Are you serious?  
\- Do I look like I’m kidding? And… who would lie about kissing Rhys?! Please do make sense!  
\- Right… So… what happened next? – Sasha’s being curious.

After the big kiss, Rhys slowly put Fiona down on her own feet. They didn’t know what to say to each other. All of this is just too much for both of them. Rhys lingered for a second, he seemed to have something to say, but then hesitated to say it. He just opened the doors and left. After Rhys has gone, Fiona slowly sat down on the spot. She can’t feel her knees anymore, they’re all melted down like butter on the hot pan. She covers her mouth with her hand, eyes were teary, but not in the agony way. 

\- We haven’t spoken to each other since then.  
\- Did he leave a message?  
\- Uhhh, no.  
\- Urgg, what a douchebag!   
\- So… what should I do?  
\- What do you mean what should you do? – Sasha’s being a little impatient with her big sister. – Look, sis. From what I gathered, he seems to have strong feeling for you. Now you just have to search your soul, is there anything there for Rhys? This is just really out of my advising capacity. Only you can answer that question. – Sasha sees things quite clear in this situation. She leaves a cliché but true advice for Fiona then hangs up.

Searching soul and heart? Right! Fiona can do that. Searching for valuable things has been in her job description since she was ten, so… If something is there, she definitely can find that. 

Fiona wanders in her apartment the whole evening like an elder who has lost their mind. Sometimes, she looks at Rhys’ apartment and curses him for making things complicated. Then there’s time she falls on the bed with a pillow covered her head and screams. How can she face him tomorrow at work? What is she gonna say? A Rhys’ montage just flashes back in her head, the way he awkwardly cares for her but too shy to admit it, the way he is jealous every time she jokingly flirts with another guy, the way he tries to protect her from a drunken pervert, and most of all, the way he kisses her today. She has never been kissed like that before by anyone, he seems to be hurt, and vulnerable. She turns her body from left to right, but still can’t find sleep. She just wishes him to be here right now so she can punch him in the neck for acting stupid.

The next morning, Fiona goes to work with two bags full under her eyes. She looks tired and panic at the same time. Apparently, the whole night of soul searching wasn’t fruitful. She still doesn’t have any idea what he is to her, and what if he is something, how can they work this out since each of them seems to pursuit very different goals. She sees an ECHO-log on her desk with Rhys’ handwriting on it, that says “please don’t kill me”. She turns on the recording.

\- Hiiii… Fiona. Uhhh, how are you? Are you okay?... 

Fiona rolls her eyes.

\- I know it’s… damn it! Why is this so hard?! I’m sorry about today, I mean… yesterday, when you see this, it would technically be yesterday… anyway, you know what I’m talking about. It was uncalled for. I wasn’t at my best. I may have hurt you, please forgive me… My action speaks for itself pretty clearly I think. If it were another time, in another situation, I swear I would have made my confession more convincing to you. But, the cat’s out of the bag now. I know that you need time to process. I’m not making any proposal here. I just need to know how you feel. Before that, it’s better if I’m not around to cloud your judgment. Just call me when you… want to talk or something. Uhhh, bye. Again, I’m sorry.

She throws the ECHO-log onto the wall so hard it’s broken in pieces. What a run-away coward! - She rages. Fiona spends the whole afternoon being angry with Rhys, but to be honest, if he were here right now, she wouldn’t know how to react, so to some extents, he actually makes a wise call. 

The sun is almost set on Pandora. Fiona just learns that Rhys has retrieved to one of Atlas’ manufacturing plant in Frostburn to start early on his shield prototype. She hesitates, wonders if it’s the right thing to go confront him, or just stay here waiting, she hasn’t had her answer anyway. At last, she hops on the train, hoping to catch him some time by midnight. 

Fiona’s freezing by the low temperature here in Frostburn, she should have known, the name of the region is already a huge give-away. She huddles herself for warmth, struggling through the storm to get to the nearest local watering hole with the hope of finding a fire over there. It’s nearly midnight, there’re not so many people in the bar, she’s rubbing her hands together… And thereeee’s our CEO, hunching at the edge of the bar stool with a shot in his hand. Fiona was just about to yell his name then she sees this woman in glasses patting him in the back, smiling seductively. They seem to be drinking together all night. Fiona shrugs off the cold and her insecurity, finally approaches them and put her arms around Rhys’ shoulders.

\- Heyyy baby, here you are!  
\- Fi… Fiona? What are you doing here? – Rhys with his bewildered face.  
\- What do you mean? You called me, remember? Stupid. – She kisses in his cheek then drags him out of the bar.

Rhys, once again, being all stunned by her unexpected show-up and the way she acts. 

\- Why are you doing this, Fiona? It’s freezing out here.  
\- WHO is that woman?   
\- What’s in it to you? – He almost loses it.  
\- What?! Are you fucking kidding me? You just kissed me yesterday, and now you’re drooling all over another bimbo? – She screams at his face.  
\- Oh my god, Fiona! – He covered his head – I wasn’t! She’s the head of R&D, we’ve been discussing work the whole evening.   
\- I see that look! That’s not… work look!   
\- Even if there’s something, she’s the one who coming on to me, why are you blaming me for this when you’re not…  
\- I’m not what?   
\- Nevermind, are you coming here to tell me something?  
\- Ermmm, not particularly, I don’t have anything to say… to you… yet. I guess… HEY! Where are you going?  
\- To my room of course, you’re welcome to follow, or if you prefer to spend the night in a dead bullymong’s belly, that’s fine too.

Fiona hurries to run after Rhys, damn it, he doesn’t have to be a dick about that. 

\- Please don’t tell me that we’re gonna spend the night here, in this tiny room, together.  
\- Again, I heard bullymong’s belly is real warm and smells incredible from the inside, Fi. – Rhys mocks her while lighting the fire place.  
\- Urggg! I shouldn’t have come here. I don’t even bring my pajamas. 

Rhys doesn’t understand how almost 2 months with him at Atlas can change this rough vault-hunter into a spoiled princess who disgusts almost everything that isn’t high-end quality. He takes off his shirt in front of her. Her eyes fix on his fat-less abs and blue tattoo on his chest. 

\- Here! Put this on.  
\- Wait, what? You’re not wearing it? It’s freezing in here.  
\- I never wear a shirt to bed… it helps me sleep better.

Fiona takes the shirt and gets into the lavatory. She takes off all her clothes which are now stiffed because of the frost, then puts on Rhys’ shirt. Rhys can see her reflection in the mirror, he’s flushed but cannot manage turn his head away. Her ivory curvy body moves in graciousness, before it’s all covered by the fall of the cloth. His shirt can cover just below her bottom, but the lacy underwear still peeps it way out when she walks. She hides behind the door and tells Rhys to look away, then she sprints to the inside of the bed facing the wall, hoping he doesn’t see her body. Rhys sighs then lies down next to her, she’s so anxious she has to hold her breaths. Suddenly, Rhys turns around to spoon her. She feels his warmth getting closer and smothering her back. Rhys presses his growing boner up against her lower back and whispers to her ear:

\- Look what you’ve done to me, Fiona…

She swallows loudly then arching her back pulling away from him.

\- Whaaa… What do you mean, Rhys? – She’s embarrassed.  
\- I just simply ask you to be responsible for your action.

He threads his robotic arm through the gap between her neck and the pillow to cover her mouth.

\- Shush! These walls are paper thin. You don’t want other workers to hear, do you? – He threatens her.

Another hand of his hugs her from behind and starts unbuttoning the shirt. 

\- I think I might need the shirt back, Fiona.   
\- But you said…  
\- Doesn’t matter what I said, my dick is all swollen up and it’s your fault. 

His low, deep, threatening voice sends the shiver down her spine. She can’t believe this is the same nerd who she used to bully and make fun of for lacking masculinity. He slips his hand inside the shirt and starts cupping her beasts making her gasps in despair. His fingers fondles her nipples until they’re as hard as ice while she produces this sound in the back of her throat almost like hiccups every time he flicks them. 

\- Now… we’re almost even, Fiona… - He mumbles behind her, then bites her earlobe.  
\- Stop… Rhys! – She moans breathily.

Now his hand traces her toned stomach and lands way down under. His five fingers spread out, slip under her pantie to grab her private part. As the instinct, she jerks her butt back and accidently hits his boner, turning him on immensely.

\- Oh, so you want it already? – He chuckles evilly.  
\- No… Rhys… I… - She pants.

Rhys gives a good stroke along her vagina. He grins to see her fluids dripping down his three middle fingers. He proceeds to insert each of his fingers inside her, widening the entrance.

\- Your body cannot lie to me Fiona.

He uses his metal hand to flick her chin up to face him then kisses her brutally before he flips her down on her stomach then pulling her butt up, making her kneel on the bed with the face pinned down the pillow. He tears the shirt apart, then pulls her pantie down on her knees to massage her buttocks. They’re soft and jiggling when he slaps it. 

She hears the sound of Rhys unzipping his pants behind her. Fiona’s dying of anticipation, she actually wants this, his fingering is so good, she has never been this wet before. Her lust fluid runs down her thighs which is such a waste. She’s so fed up with his foreplay and wants his enormous cock to be inside her so bad. When he teases the tip at her dripping wet entrance, she slams her butt back to get it inside, catching him unexpectedly. Rhys gasps in pure flesh pleasure.

\- Fuckkk! Easy now… baby – Rhys chuckles – What’s the hurry? – He hates losing control.

He starts to thrust in and out of her, slowly at first. 

\- Ummm, what a tight, sweet little cunt you have. – Lowering down to kiss along her spine.

While he loves the dirty talk, she just keep moaning his names over and over again, gripping hard on the mattress. He speeds up the thrusting, one hand holding on to her hip bone, the other spreading her labia.

\- Fuck, Rhys! Your cock is immense! You’re gonna split me in half! – She cries.

Rhys grins with satisfaction, loving her reaction. Suddenly, he pulls out, flips her on the back.

\- It’s time for you to cum, baby.

He puts it in her then grinding hard on her clitoris. She throws her head back, cursing non-stop. Now he knows she’s got a filthy mouth. He lowers his head to suck her nipples. Fiona entangles her fingers into his hair, sometimes pulls it hard when the thrust is too good. 

\- AHHHH! RHYSSS…! – She cries ignoring what Rhys said about the thin walls.

Her orgasm pulses through her body, heating it up to a point where she sweats in the middle of a Frostburn night. The finish spreads like electricity on to Rhys. He feels like his dick cannot hold it anymore. Damn! The woman’s pussy is so tight. He chokes then releases his big load inside her. 

\- Oh shit! Fiona! Shit! Shit! Shit! – He jerks his hips and tries to deepen his penetration.

Rhys collapses his weight on to Fiona. After a minute, when their breaths become normal again, she flips him to his side of the bed.

\- Fuck you Rhys!  
\- Err, why are you recapturing what we just did, Potty-mouth? – He smirks then rolls her in his arms. – That’s what I like, a responsible employee, Fiona. – He yawns then hugs her to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phewww... finally some actions as promised. What do you guys think? I would love to read your comments for suggestions. Thank you all. XOXO


	5. The answer

Rhys has been acting weird the entire morning after. When they get dressed and about to hit the road, he utilizes every moment to pinch her butt or slide fingers into her crotch, or trying to grope her boobs. It’s like he has been obsessed with her body after the last night. Can’t blame him though, it was the best sex she ever had. Luckily, Fiona is way better at controlling herself. She is non-responsive to his alluring calls. Rhys stops after several tries to reconnect with his lover. He seems to be annoyed by her aloof attitude. 

\- What is it, Fiona? – Rhys finally breaks the silence with her after driving for a while.  
\- Nothing. – She’s being nonchalant.  
\- Uhh… Nothing? After last night, aren’t you gonna say something?  
\- About what? That do I have feeling for you?  
\- What else could it be, dummy? – Rhys grows impatient. – Because you seem to agree with me on so many levels last night, babe. – He smirks, glancing at her.  
\- Stop calling me babe, or baby! I’m not your girlfriend!   
\- So what is it then? Do you expect me to think that it was a one-night-stand, and nothing will ever happen between us? – He starts to get angry.  
\- Why do we have to put label on everything, Rhys?  
\- This is unacceptable, Fiona! Last night wasn’t some kind of impulsive sexual act, I’ve been dying to…

He got interrupted by Fiona stomping on the brake and reeling the wheel to the side of the road.

\- What are you trying to do?! That was extremely dan…

Fiona hitches his tie over and smashes her lips into his. She unfastens the seat-belt then hops onto his laps, her hand reaches for the button to lower the back of his chair. Rhys is absolutely astonished by her move, but he just goes with it, slowly lies down and runs his hands up and down her back while opening his mouth to let her tongue in. Fiona deepens the kiss, presses her chest against him and covers his ears with her palms. When their lips part for air, she whispers:

\- How’s that for an answer?

He grins ear to ear, treasuring the moment when the woman that he loves finally showing him some affection back, well, she’s not exactly saying anything but her action screaming it. 

\- Hey Rhys, I think I’ll go in first, you’ll take the car for some lapses then go after me, ok? I don’t want people to think that we were together last night.  
\- No way! Let they think whatever they want.

He gets out of the car faster than Fiona, slams the door and heads quickly to the entrance. She runs after him thinking “Damn it! Damn it, Rhys!” He strides his long legs down the hallway confidently before doubting eyes of his employees. Like it hasn’t get scandalous enough, he proudly brushes his hand through his messy hair, then adjusts the loosen tie, with Fiona almost crouching behind him. It is so obvious that the two just did the unspeakable thing to each other. Her face’s flushed with embarrassment. She can foresee her not-so-easy time at Atlas with him after today.

Rhys is so easy to read, he’s happy, elevating, proud, whatever it is … he feels like skipping on clouds, and no one can ever ruin this moment for him, even Fiona. The world is his, and he can do anything with it since he has his woman in his hands now. 

\- Vaughn! Bro! Good to see you, man! – He runs towards Vaughn, waving at him in the lobby, totally forgetting that he’s just gone for not more than 24 hours.   
\- Yeah, yeah, whatever!  
\- Huh? Aren’t you glad to see me?  
\- I see you every day, so what? – Vaughn completely ignores Rhys. 

If Vaughn really tries, he could 100% figure out Rhys’ grin. But not today, since Fiona brought in the Anshin contract, Rhys has done absolutely nothing. It always comes down to the chief accountant to sort out the legal terms, the payment method and so on. 

\- Aren’t you a little curious where I have been, what I have done yesterday?  
\- Sure sure, if you want to tell me, just spill it out already. But now, read this through. 

Vaughn throws hundred of contract pages before Rhys. He doesn’t care about that at all, if it were a contract to get him killed, he wouldn’t even know. 

How can he be any more obnoxious and obvious? Fiona tweaks her eyes, can’t even look him directly in the eyes. One moment, he was this sex god to her, now he is just a childish, bragging, lame dumbass. 

\- Rhys! I can talk to you in your office? – She asks, more like orders.  
\- Sure thing, bab… - He gets pushed in the office before he can finish the sentence.  
\- What are you doing?! – She shouts.  
\- Being happy, I guess. – He’s doing the puppy eyes. – You’re gonna forbid it too now, aren’t you?   
\- Oh no no no, Rhys, we cannot tell anyone about this, not just yet, before we figure it out what this is. – She points at him and her back and forth.  
\- But… I thought you don’t want to put label on… things.  
\- Don’t act dumb with me, Rhys! Bottom line, no one can know about us, before I’m ready to let them know. Can you do that, Rhys? Promise me!  
\- Okay okay, I can do that, one condition though… 

He leans back on the edge of his desk, pulling her so close to him, leaving no gap between them. His knee crowds in between her legs, then slowly rises up to touch her inner thighs, then to her crotch. She shudders when his knee hits her damped private part, which she’s trying so hard to hide. Fiona’s wearing a pencil skirt, which means how high his knee goes, how much skin she would expose.

\- To compensate for the fact that I can’t tell anyone, you can’t say no to me, gotto keep your boss happy anytime, anywhere, eh? 

Rhys runs his hand up and squeezes her butt cheeks and massages them a bit. She feels so turned on yet overwhelmed by this dense atmosphere he creates when the man’s comfortable in his triumph realm. The air around her seems to be gravitated towards him and so is she.

\- Don’t push your luck with me, Mr.CEO. – She coos when wrapping her arms around his neck.

This could be considered the most intimate act she’s ever done to him. Rhys looks up to her eyes, those green pair of crystal gleaming in laughter. There is not possible a better scene than this. 

\- I hate this skirt of yours. It shows all of your goodness curves, that I don’t want any man on this planet to see it, except for me. – He kisses her collar bones gently. 

Rhys tucks her in even tighter, pressing his cheek onto her breast, relaxing all of his tension muscles. As long as they can be like this, girlfriend or not, doesn’t matter to him. Rhys’ finger just hooks inside her pantie’s waistband, about to pull them down, then the door creaks. Rhys damns whoever it is that ruin the most perfect moment of him with Fiona. She jumps back, pulling down her skirt. Rhys loses his balance, almost tripping on the floor while he’s trying to roll himself back to the chair behind the desk.

\- Alright… Fiona, - Rhys clears his throat - my schedule looks good. But ummm, cancel my dinner tonight… I’m gonna be too busy in my apartment. Won’t be able to get out. So… there. You got it?   
\- Sure, err… will do. Is that all?

Vaughn steps in.

\- Woah, how can you turn her from a wild cat to a domestic kitten so fast? Fi, you don’t have to obey this man, you know that? After all, he’s just a jack-ass in a big chair. – Vaughn jokingly criticizes while she walks out of the room.  
\- I don’t need you to meddling with my management here, Vaughn? Do you have an agenda for me, if not, can you just go? – Rhys being annoyed.  
\- Woah! That’s how you thank employee of the month? - Vaughn’s bragging. - Actually, you have to go with me, we’re meeting the lawyers for the last contract review.   
\- Gosh! Alright, after you. – Rhys signals Vaughn to go first.

Getting out of the office, with Vaughn’s ahead of him, Rhys discreetly pulls out the spare key-card to his apartment from his back pocket. Passing Fiona in the lobby, he playfully slips it between her breasts, not forgetting to cop a field, then throws a sexual innuendo wink at her. Fiona is almost blown away by his bold action, her cheeks and forehead feels like the center of an active volcano thinking of possible things can happen tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, the story's slowed down again. But please stay tuned. I am a bit slow at writing right now. Will try to update as soon as possible. Thank you all!


	6. Overtime

After the meeting, Rhys spent the whole evening with Vaughn reviewing the Anshin contract hopefully for the last time. Being true to himself, Atlas is still at the recovering stage, especially in human resource. He should have had a whole squad of Legal burying their faces in this contract right now, but sadly, it’s just him and Vaughn and another generalist to document all the changes that they made. Rhys can picture the missus at home being a little bit disappointed waiting for him at the moment, or maybe she didn’t even show up. The suspension of Schrodinger’s cat hanging above his head keeps him zoning out from time to time and that surely can’t escape Vaughn’s attention. 

\- Okay Rhys, what was it that you were trying to tell me earlier today? – Vaughn finally breaks the tension.  
\- N… nothing, I was just excited to see you and all… - Rhys hums.  
\- I know you went to Frostburn, what happened there? – Vaughn cocks an eyebrow.  
\- Oh, that! Yeah, I meant to tell you we’re making progress with the shield prototype. That’s that. – Rhys is actually impressed with how blatantly he can lie at this state of mind.   
\- Alrighty… so can we focus 100% on the work now? Cuz I’m telling you, I’m not fond of spending the rest of the night with you either.  
\- Sure sure… but get this, if we’re not sure about any conditions, we’ll put both options in there, see if we can push our luck with those bastards tomorrow.

It’s nearly midnight when Rhys drags his legs out of the room, rocking side to side like a zombie in the hallway. Vaughn and the assistant are staying to finish the wording. He can’t thank Vaughn enough, maybe a promotion should be in order for him, but to be honest, there are not many higher positions in Atlas there for the accountant, and Rhys knows Vaughn never actually cares much about ranking ever since they left Hyperion. Maybe he can create a pseudo-award for his friend like Best Bro of the year or something. Oh, who is he kidding, Vaughn is definitely his best bro for life. Rhys rolls his eyes at his own stupid idea, then he somehow reaches the front of his apartment door. A mild panic attack jolts through his nerves as he be reminded of Fiona. With the best cat-like stealthiness, he creaks the door opened to find her lying on the bed, mindlessly tangling legs with the thin silky sheet. A smile blooms in Rhys’ tiring face, so she did show up. It’s not gonna be anytime soon for him to get the hang of this woman’s emotion. Finding her like this brings warmth to his heart, for the first time in his life, Rhys can sense this domestic relationship, well, actually, not exactly a relationship, but he would very much like it to be. 

He looks beaten-up, tousled hair, loosened tie knot, untucked shirt. Rhys hops into the shower right away then climbs on the bed with Fiona. She’s sleeping on the side, with one leg crossed over a pillow. Good lord, how he longs to run his hand on her thighs right now, feel her cool marble skin with his palm, but Rhys’ too caring to wake her up right now, and one part of him is actually scared of her sleepy cranky. He carefully turns on the nightstand light checking the unread email Vaughn just sent about the final version of the contract. The light sure has made her eyes tweaked. Fiona opens her eyes lazily finding Rhys resting his back against the headboard, smiles at her dearly. 

He has a white bathrobe loosely wrapped around his torso, the long sleeked-back hair is still dripping wet.  
\- Daddy’s home. – Rhys spares a smug smirk.  
\- Daddy? Really? – She laughs – I don’t think you can ever pull it off.  
\- We’ll see about that.  
\- What took you so long? I thought you had plan for us tonight? – Fiona rubs her foot on his shins.  
\- I know, I’m sorry, it’s just this deal is more twisted than I thought. Better be well prepared before meeting that asshole crush of yours tomorrow.  
\- Pfff… what crush? Don’t be ridiculous! – She snorts – Men are just tools for me.  
\- Oh yeah? Am I one of those?  
\- Maybe… but you’re probably the sharpest. – She grins – So… now the tool is here, can we get to the… screwing?  
\- Hah! Saucy, but not so subtle, babe. – Rhys chuckles – Anddd actually… as much as I want to… serve you right… as a tool, you know, I really should finish this. So why don’t you go back to sleeping, and I’ll think of a way to make it up for you tomorrow, sound good? – Rhys leans in and kisses her on the head.  
\- Fine! But you’d better bring your A game, don’t write a cheque that you can’t cash. - She seems pissed.

Rhys feels terrible, this is his idea in the first place, and he even lets work cock-blocked him in a rare chance he had in ages. But a part of him kind of wants this to happen, to slow down, seeing how she would react outside of their newly-established physical involvement. If she gets up and walks out of the apartment right now, it would crush him to his very soul. 

A few minutes passed in silence, she’s still rubbing his legs. His eyes are still on the pad, eventual paying her glances, admiring the patience she bestowing upon him tonight. When he thinks a sexless snuggling sleep-over is destined ahead, she murmurs so soft, almost like whisper in the thickened silent air.

\- You know… since you’re so determined on working, you don’t mind if I do my own task here, do you?   
\- Uhmm, no, but I don’t think you have much to do rather than slumbering next to me, sweetheart.   
\- Then you haven’t reached the second side of my job description yet… 

She pulls herself up, straddling the CEO without much noise, her fingers trailing his bathrobe lapel, then stopping at the loosed belt knot, untangling it. Rhys shoots his eyes wide opened, shocked by her bold moves regardless of how sleepy she was minutes ago. Rhys knows perfectly well that behind the aloofness, Fiona is definitely something else in the bedroom. But they’re still on the learning curve, so he stays put, pretending to be content with their specialized functions on the bed, to see what’s her next move is. His eyes stick on the document, but in fact, his skin burns a thousand degrees wherever she touches. Fiona sits down on his lap, bending down to kiss on Rhys’ bare chest, still dotted with water drops. 

\- Let’s see who would do their jobs better, you or me. – She playfully nibbles at his skin.  
\- You can try all you can, but a man gotta do what a man gotta do, honey. – Rhys tests her limit.

So she likes a lil bit of challenge. Fiona straightens up her spine, starting to unbutton her dress shirt, technically his dress shirt. The collar’s loosened and fells off her shoulder. After a few top buttons, she stops, just enough to give him a sneak peek, without totally giving all of it away. Damn, she’s good at teasing. Rhys’ pretentious focus breaks a little at this point and Fiona’s very satisfied with it.

\- Nice try, although, what’s part of no-can-do that you don’t understand. I only got like a few hours left until…  
\- Shushhh you, you do your thing, I do mine. – She doesn’t seem to mind.

When she resumes her fold-back position, the collar hangs loose, revealing dangling bosoms inside the white fabric. Rhys can’t help but staring at her nipples being hard, gradually reddened, calling for him. Rhys’d be a fool not to snake in and pinch them right now… but somehow he succeeds to dial it down, try to keep cool. Fiona feels a little insulted, her brows are drawn down, thinking maybe it’s time to kick it up a notch. She unravels his body from the waist-down to find Rhys wearing nothing underneath the bathrobe, his cock is growing with popping blood veins. She cocks her head shooting him an unimpressed look. He just eyes down at her with the biggest predator grin he can muster.

\- Looks like someone is a little distracted… - She mocks.  
\- Can’t blame my genital for functioning just fine, baby. – His voice is a little shaken.  
\- Alright, guess you have to cope through with it, don’t mind me… Yummm…

Did she actually just saying yummm at his boner?! This is it, this is where he’d break. Fiona gently massages the length of the shaft before she opens her mouth, dripping spit on to it. Rhys sets his gaze on to the nymph on him, who is licking her lips, like preparing to have such a nice meal. He finds himself painting heavily in anticipation that her steamy mouth could devour his boner any moment now. And, when she finally did it… 

\- Fuckkk! – Rhys curses.

She mouths the tip first, gentle as a greeting. Her tongue swirls around before flicking his slit sending tendrils of violation yet pure pleasure straight up to his brain. Gradually, she takes him in full as the tip of her nose reaches the bush of his pubic hair. Her mouth is too stuffed to talk right now. She just hums, sending vibration to his dick inside. 

Fiona lifts her head up, a pop sound leaving her saliva wet lips and the tips of Rhys’ arousal. Can’t help but noticing the pinkish color, in a sec, she cocks her head up to make eyes contact with him.

\- What’s that? – Rhys being skeptical.  
\- Nothing, just… you’re cute. – eyeing the tip with the biggest smug grin.   
\- Don’t be silly, if you like what you see, eat it then. – He encourages.

She takes his tone as a spur, opening her mouth to deep-throat the whole thing once again, tongue making long stroke at the length. His scent and taste are not so strong since he just gets out of the shower, but she loves it anyway.

\- Fuck… You win, you attention whore… – He gasps in pleasure, dropping his head back, his robotic hand gets hold of her hair.

She doesn’t mind his vulgarity, which marks one of her biggest achievements. He grabs her hair but not so tightly, urging her head to bobble up and down. This alone can get him to cum, but that will not satisfy the woman, and he’s not gonna sleep next to a cranky Fiona tonight. So he gently slaps at her cheek several times to get her out of the dizziness.

\- That’s enough. Get up! Sit on it, babe!

Fiona obeys every command he makes. She gets up, a load of saliva mixed with precum dribbles in the corner of her mouth. Rhys raises his thumb meaning to wipe it away, but lingers on her lower lip. Looking up at Rhys, with his stupid grin, Fiona takes off the thong to throw at his face. He catches and gives it a good inhale before tossing it aside. 

\- Give it a good ride, honey.   
\- Yes, Mr. President. – She smiles.

Fiona crawls her way up, grabbing his throbbing erected cock and guides it inside her dripping wet entrance. 

\- Ahhhh… that’s right, baby! – He puts his arm crossing behind the head, sinks deeper into the pile of pillows behind his back.

Fiona presses her palms on his tattooed chest, applying pressure each time she grounding her weight down on him. Rhys’ digits digging bruising deep in her hip bones, holds her tight. They’ve been moving in rhythm for quite a while, until he can’t hold it anymore, he starts to do some thrusting from the bottom. Fiona stays still, head hanging forwards, letting the gravity take control of her hair. 

\- Oh god, Fiona, you’re precious! – Rhys’ panting heavily.

She can feel his orgasm coming, scratching his bare skin with her sharp turquoise nails. Then exploding waves of warmth shooting against her wall, the tingling sensation makes she cries out herself. Rhys holds in a little longer to help her finish before pulling out. 

\- That’s definitely gonna leave marks. I might have to call my insurance guy. – Rhys gets hold of her wrists, addressing the scratching on his chest, looking like coming from a wild animal.  
\- And what should be listed as the culprit? – She huffs.  
\- I don’t know… awesome sex with my assistant, maybe.


End file.
